Re: Filetype identification in gmc

["Scott Haug" <eldamitri hotmail com>]

AFAIK (and I reserve the same right that you do), the 'file' command uses 
bit patterns at predefined offsets to determine file types, i.e. it opens 
the file and reads a few bytes.  To do this in gmc would mean opening and 
reading *lots* of files, and could put a strain on performance due to disk 
access.

Feel free to rebuke me if someone has a better and/or more accurate 
description.

Thanks,

-Scott

>From: Per Erik Stendahl <berrs@Update.UU.SE>
>To: gnome-list@gnome.org
>Subject: Filetype identification in gmc
>Date: Wed, 4 Aug 1999 13:56:56 +0200 (MET DST)
>
>
>Hi.
>
>It seems to me (and I always reserve the right to be wrong) that
>gmc determines the type of a file solely on the extension it has.
>I don't like this, it is not powerful enough and it seems like
>just-another-MSDOS-ripoff. I think that filetype identification
>should be able to use at least filename patterns (like extensions),
>locations and file contents. Take for instance the .doc extension.
>Is it a text document? Is it an MS Word document? Is it an airplane?
>
>I don't know exactly how the 'file' command determines the type of
>a file, maybe we could use that.
>
>Cheers.
>
>--
>Per Erik Stendahl
>
>
>
>--
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